Need some Post Processing suggestions PLEASE

[Milner]

OK I am a digital idiot/newbie. I need some help/suggestion on where to start with some basic workflow/postprocessing of an event I shoot this past weekend.

I have about 300 photos I need to process, FAST. Not to print quality, but good enough to hand over to someone for final tweaking for newsprint/magazine/pamphlet type work. I shot this as a freebe to gain digi experience and get my photos/name out there. So I want them to look good, but not take a huge amount of time.

What I am working with is 300 or so photos of a motorsports event. Big problem is the weather was horrible, rainy and cloudy. Because of the situations I had to deal with, flash was not a good option, so all are available light and 800 iso. The exposures are all good, just real flat lighting?

So I ask of you.....

ANY suggestion where to start, I would like some actions i could apply to all of them in a batch process. Is that possible with with elements? Even if I had to go through one by one and apply the same process to each, that would be ok to. I just don't even know where to start.

All suggestions and help is GREATLY appreciated.
THANKS
Marc

Sorry for being a newbie idiot :)

[Scottes]

Post-processing tutorials List
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34606

Particularly 1, 3 & 5.
Post Processing #1 - Very Basic Contrast Tutorial
Post Processing #3 - Sharpening and Saving
Post Processing #5 - Camera to JPG, Quickly

[Whaler]

Ya, go here http://www.pixmantec.com/index2.html and download RawShooter Essential (it's free) and let it rip.

[rdenney]

What I am working with is 300 or so photos of a motorsports event. Big problem is the weather was horrible, rainy and cloudy. Because of the situations I had to deal with, flash was not a good option, so all are available light and 800 iso. The exposures are all good, just real flat lighting?

So I ask of you.....

ANY suggestion where to start, I would like some actions i could apply to all of them in a batch process.


Get Breezebrowser (www.breezesys.com). Put all the images in one folder, and run Breezebrowser, navigating to that folder. You'll see all the images. Select three or four of them. Then run Tools, Proofs. Auto level black point to 1%, auto level white point to 1%, sharpen (using Unsharp Mask, at .9 pixel radius, amount 1, and threshold 0). Set Gamma to 1.5. Set Resize Image to a square the number of pixels you need (or leave it blank if you want full-res images--but proof prints can be smaller). Set Output to JPEG, with quality of 100. Then click Proof Selected. Look at the resulting proofs (they'll be in a folder under the current one called "proofs". If they look good to you, then Select All and run proofs again on all the images.

When I need a set of quick proofs, this is what I do. It will provide reasonable images about 98% of the time. The exceptions you can go in and fix individually. This isn't what you do for art prints, but it works fine if you are delivering proofs on a deadline. It's about the same degree of processing the images get at in one of the automatic machines at the lab. If you want more contrast, try a higher Gamma, though it tends to brighten the whole image and you may want to compensate a bit by lowering the white point value to something less than 1%. But I bet you won't have to go that far.

Rick "who thinks this will do 300 full-res images without babysitting while you go for coffee" Denney

[Milner]

THANKS!

Does the Breeze work with JPG input or only raw? I could not find a definate answer on the site.

Any one else using Breeze? It sounds good, but I would like some unbiased opinions before I give up my $$.

[rdenney]

THANKS!

Does the Breeze work with JPG input or only raw? I could not find a definate answer on the site.

Any one else using Breeze? It sounds good, but I would like some unbiased opinions before I give up my $$.

Unbiased? I'm not Joe Breeze, so my opinions are as unbiased as anyone's who has actually used it. Download it (it's free for a trial) and see what you think.

Yes, it will make proofs of any collection of images. If I don't need full resolution, the first thing I usually do is extract the embedded JPEGs out of the RAW+JPEG files, and then run my proofs on those. The resolution is about half full-res, but that's plenty for proof-sized prints. If someone wants to buy a bigger print, then you spend time only on the prints someone is paying for, or that you really want to enlarge.

I'm sure there are other software packages that perform similar services (RAWshooter?). I've just never used them. I always try to give advice based on what I personally know to be true.

Rick "who uses BreezeBrowser for fast batch work, and Photoshop CS with its browse function for more critical work one photo at a time" Denney

[chtgrubbs]

Picasa also has a batch correction tool. Select the images, on the menu bar select Picture-Batch Edit- Auto Color or Auto Contrast or "I'm Feeling Lucky". It will batch sharpen and has an automated burn to cd and print contact sheet functions. And it's FREE.

[Milner]

Thanks Rick. I should have said OTHER unbiased opinions. I was not trying to call you bias, sorry.
I like what I see from it.

I have played with picasa, and it is OK, but does not offer the power I want.

Somewhere between doing each image in PS and batches in Picasa is what I am after. Breeze seems to fit the bill. I really like the watermark feature, and the web stuff is cool too.
I guess I download the trial version at home tonight.
Thanks
Marc

[idofotos]

I just shot my first portraits with my 1ds, long time raw shooter so I was surprised when my rawfiles opend in C1 were ending in Tiff? is this normal, or do I have something set wrong in C1 or in my camera? they seemed to be adjustable and looked great, just confused

[Marshy]

Unbiased? I'm not Joe Breeze, so my opinions are as unbiased as anyone's who has actually used it. Download it (it's free for a trial) and see what you think.

Yes, it will make proofs of any collection of images. If I don't need full resolution, the first thing I usually do is extract the embedded JPEGs out of the RAW+JPEG files, and then run my proofs on those. The resolution is about half full-res, but that's plenty for proof-sized prints. If someone wants to buy a bigger print, then you spend time only on the prints someone is paying for, or that you really want to enlarge.

I'm sure there are other software packages that perform similar services (RAWshooter?). I've just never used them. I always try to give advice based on what I personally know to be true.

Rick "who uses BreezeBrowser for fast batch work, and Photoshop CS with its browse function for more critical work one photo at a time" Denney
Hi Rick could you help me please i,m struggling to get converted tiff images with BB looking as sharp as they do when viewed in BB before conversion , what parameters do you use on the conversion setting page please ?

[Marshy]

Get Breezebrowser (www.breezesys.com). Put all the images in one folder, and run Breezebrowser, navigating to that folder. You'll see all the images. Select three or four of them. Then run Tools, Proofs. Auto level black point to 1%, auto level white point to 1%, sharpen (using Unsharp Mask, at .9 pixel radius, amount 1, and threshold 0). Set Gamma to 1.5. Set Resize Image to a square the number of pixels you need (or leave it blank if you want full-res images--but proof prints can be smaller). Set Output to JPEG, with quality of 100. Then click Proof Selected. Look at the resulting proofs (they'll be in a folder under the current one called "proofs". If they look good to you, then Select All and run proofs again on all the images.

When I need a set of quick proofs, this is what I do. It will provide reasonable images about 98% of the time. The exceptions you can go in and fix individually. This isn't what you do for art prints, but it works fine if you are delivering proofs on a deadline. It's about the same degree of processing the images get at in one of the automatic machines at the lab. If you want more contrast, try a higher Gamma, though it tends to brighten the whole image and you may want to compensate a bit by lowering the white point value to something less than 1%. But I bet you won't have to go that far.

Rick "who thinks this will do 300 full-res images without babysitting while you go for coffee" Denney
PS Rick can your proof settings be used for conversion as the small proof looks great ?

[Jesper]

I just shot my first portraits with my 1ds, long time raw shooter so I was surprised when my rawfiles opend in C1 were ending in Tiff? is this normal, or do I have something set wrong in C1 or in my camera? they seemed to be adjustable and looked great, just confusedI've never used an 1Ds but I do know that with the original 1D (not the Mark II) and probably also the 1Ds, the extension for RAW files is .TIF instead of .CRW or .CR2. Which is strange, because the file is not really a TIFF file at all... Read the manual of your 1Ds...